As the Department of Energy continues to prioritize a diversified energy portfolio, ORNL researchers are lending their expertise to create new pathways for a net-zero future.
Femi Omitaomu and Melissa Allen-Dumas of the laboratory’s Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate, as well as Randy Belles of the Fusion and Fission Energy Sciences Directorate, contributed to a DOE technical study that found transitioning coal power plants to nuclear power plants would create high-paying jobs at the converted plants and hundreds of new jobs in the community. The study also found that a transition to nuclear power would stimulate millions of dollars in increased revenue and economic activity for the local community, and, with support and training, most workers at existing coal plants could make the transition to working at a replacement nuclear power plant.
“One crucial element of this assessment involves utilizing ORNL’s OR-SAGE tool to evaluate brownfield sites,” said Omitaomu. “This tool employs more than 60 layers of data to characterize the entire continental United States. Furthermore, we examined the implications of coal ash remediation for transitioning potential coal plant sites, which includes 157 retired coal plant sites and 237 operating coal plant sites, into nuclear power plants.”
According to the DOE study, 30% of the nation’s coal plants are expected to be retired by 2035, and more than 300 retired and existing coal plants are suitable for advanced nuclear plants and technologies. This could result in $275 million in added annual economic activity in nuclear sector communities.
Using this study as its foundation, DOE released an informational guide for communities that rely on coal power plants for jobs and economic growth to encourage community leaders to consider converting their sites to nuclear power plants.
This informational guide is a continuation of a study from 2022 in which DOE identified hundreds of U.S. coal power plant sites across the country that could transition to nuclear power. The guide also serves as an overview of potential factors for community leaders to consider, including power requirements, project scope and timeline, and infrastructure reuse.
The study and informational guide are part of DOE’s Coal-to-Nuclear Transitions Initiative, which intends to preserve local workforces that would be lost with retired coal power plants and save costs by reusing existing facilities as more communities switch to cleaner energy sources. Converting coal power plants to nuclear power would also increase the supply of electricity available and make progress toward the U.S. goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Most utilities and independent power producers do not currently own or share in the ownership of a nuclear power plant,” said Belles. “Unlike obtaining permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing process will be daunting. This assessment attempts to shed light on the NRC licensing process to entities seeking to add nuclear power to their portfolios.”
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. — Mark Alewine
